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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

European gun conflict

The worst school massacre in USA history created the usual storm of criticism from Europe. What makes this dichotomy of intellectual blindness curious is the European attitude towards gun control and the fact of the multitude of European deaths over the last 100 years from weapons of all types used by Europeans to kill Europeans. How many Europeans died in World War One? About 100 million? Perhaps more? And how many Europeans died in World War Two? About 100 million? Perhaps more? Cast a blind eye on how these humans were killed and you can criticise the US and it's gun death history. More Americans were killed by weapons in Europe during the era from 1900 to 1950 than were killed by weapons in the US. Most of those Americans were killed defending the liberty of our most vocal critic: France.

The history of gun control in Europe has been a vivid example of failure. War and extensive genicide continue to this moment and will continue far into the future in Europe. Only the most heavily armed of all the European countries has avoided the problem of multiple deaths from weapons that has plagued all of the rest of Europe. Switzerland has maintained it's peace and security through a combination of topography, attitude, and the fact that the majority of it's citizens are armed and trained in the use of weapons. Yes, it was convenient to have a "neutral" state in the midst of all the "armed" conflict in Europe and yes, it would have been inconvenient to climb the Alps to conquer this small country, and yes, it would have been even more difficult to conquer a citizenry with every one a member of the military and all of it's citizens armed. So, even though Switzerland was a thorn in the side of the belligerants of Europe, their freedom was tolerated because of the difficulty of controlling a citizen state that is fully armed. Have you notice how difficult it is in Iraq?

France has riots in the streets with more deaths from civil disturbance per capita than the US has from gun deaths per capita. Just because the citizens don't have guns doesn't mean they will be peaceful. In France, the burning of cars is a nightly pastime that only gets in the news when the volume of burnt cars is unusually high. The Balkans are another example of European gun control gone wild. With a bit of thought and some awareness of history and current events, it is clear that the Europeans need to look homeward and remember to give thanks to the US for the freedom they have today. It was, afterall, the Americans who came with guns to stop the killing in Europe and bring some measure of uneasy peace to the area. Europeans don't seem to be able to control their own passion for killing each other if history is any guide.

So, go ahead and criticize. Tell the world how blind you are to your own history. Speak out France. Look down on the US and forget the fact that it was Americans who gave you your freedom again and again. At least we, here in the US have not forgotten that France aided us in our drive for freedom from the British. Shame on France for their lapse of memory.